Download pdf - MBA: 1 Gigabit and Beyond

© CableLabs 2020.

CableLabs

© CableLabs 2020.

MBA: 1 Gigabit and Beyond

Mark Walker | Director, Technology PolicyGreg White | Distinguished Technologist, Next Generation Systems

© CableLabs 2020.© CableLabs 20.

Agenda• Background and Overview

• CableLabs• Cable Gigabit Service Availability• Enabling Technologies – DOCSIS, Fiber Deep, Distributed Access

Architectures (DAA), and CPE• Consumer v. Testing Usage

• Testing of Gigabit Services• Continued Role of Active Speed Testing

• Challenges and Potential Approaches• Related: Latency Measurement

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Cable Gigabit Now A Reality


Progress in Available Speeds…

Source: CableLabs


10 Gigs on the Horizon


Cable’s Hybrid Fiber-Coax Networks

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Enabling 1Gbps Services and BeyondDOCSIS, Fiber Deep, Distributed Access Architectures (DAA), CPE

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DOCSIS Evolution

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DOCSIS 1.0 DOCSIS 1.1 DOCSIS 2.0 DOCSIS 3.0 DOCSIS 3.1 DOCSIS 4.0

Highlights Initial cable broadband technology, high-speed internet access

Added voice over IP service, gaming, streaming

Higher upstream speed, capacity for symmetric services

Greatly enhances capacity, channel bonding, IPv6

Capacity and efficiency progression, OFDM, wideband channel

Symmetrical streaming and increased upload speeds

Downstream Capacity

40 Mbps 40 Mbps 40 Mbps 1 Gbps 10 Gbps 10 Gbps

Upstream Capacity

10 Mbps 10 Mbps 30 Mbps 200 Mbps 1-2 Gbps 6 Gbps

First Specification Issue Date

1996 1999 2001 2006 2013 2019

*The DOCSIS Evolution table describes the maximum capabilities of the specifications.


Fiber Deep and Distributed Access Architecture (DAA)

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Increasing Capabilities of CPE (Modems & Gateways)• Availability of 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet

Ports:• Motorola • Netgear• Technicolor

• Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) becoming available in cable gateways

• Currently Available Downstream Capacity: 5 Gbps (DOCSIS 3.1)

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Consumer v. Testing UsageConsumer Total Usage (Monthly –1Q20)• Monthly Usage

• Average: 402.5 GB • Median: 233.6 GB

• Proportion of Avg. Weighted Subscribers• Usage of over 1,000 GB: 10%• Usage of over 2,000 GB: 1.2%

MBA Testing Total Usage (1Gbps tier) (Monthly)• Total Usage (Current): 1,665 GB

• 10-Second Download Tests: 20 per day• 10-Second Upload Tests: 20 per day• 20-Second Download Tests (Netflix,

YouTube, Hulu): 18 per day

• Total Usage (Long Term): 556 GB• 10-Second Download Tests: 14 per day• 10-Second Upload Tests: 14 per day

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Source: http://openvault.com/complimentary-report-Q120/

http://openvault.com/complimentary-report-Q120/


Testing of Gigabit ServicesObservations, Considerations, and Recommendations

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Continued Role for Active Speed Testing• Observation: Remain focused on measuring the access link

capacity rather than the end-to-end experience• Considerations:

• At higher speed tiers (particularly,1Gbps and beyond), active speed tests are not reflective of actual consumer usage

• Seek to minimize network burden of active testing to avoid the potential of distorting network design and unnecessarily increasing the cost of broadband networks

• Recommendations: • Seek to minimize impact of external factors on the measurement of the

access link capacity (e.g., using multiple test servers, moving test servers closer to the access link)

• Optimize test plan to ensure statistically significant results while minimizing network burden

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UDP- v. TCP-based Speed Tests• Potential Benefits of UDP-based testing

• More accurate measurement of the full capacity of the access link• Shorter duration tests to reach an accurate measurement – minimizing burden on the access

network• Potential Considerations

• Perception of results – moving away from the predominant protocol currently used for Internet traffic (TCP)

• Need to minimize potential impacts on other portions of the network, e.g., moving/using test servers closer to the access link, using multiple test servers

• UDP-based testing will likely impair any other application running while the test is conducted – need to ensure link is idle prior to testing, even more so than with TCP-based tests

• Multi-queue bottlenecks are becoming more common – need to ensure these can be accurately measured

• Network security controls may see UDP-based tests as malicious activity and seek to block• Need further information on search algorithm and how it may be optimized to minimize the test

duration while still providing accurate measurements• Recommendation: Further information and evaluation needed

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Related: Latency Measurement• Observation:

• Latency is becoming a more critical performance attribute to a wide range of applications• Will need to ensure validity of MBA latency measurements as latency becomes more critical

• Consideration:• Minimize external variables: Seek to minimize variation in testing results due to the relative

geography of test servers, for example • Idle and Under Typical Load: Latency measurement of an idle link is not representative of the latency

performance under typical load; measuring at idle and under typical load would help provide a more complete picture of latency performance

• Emerging Multi-Queue Approaches to Reducing Latency• Separating queue building and non-queue building traffic: Low Latency DOCSIS (LLD) and other efforts seek to

minimize latency for non-queue building traffic (e.g., latency-sensitive traffic)• FQ (flow-queuing): Latency measurement traffic is queued separately from "load" traffic; latency under load

measurements may not reflect performance of the other flows

• Recommendation: Explore how potential MBA changes to accommodate 1Gbps services and beyond may intersect and impact future needs for latency measurements

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